I have a couple of lanterns and one of them ( Hipolito 500) had a problem with the rapid preheater,it is bent and not seat properly, also the jet is oversized and works like a stream of fuel,so I bought a new lever and the angle seems to be "odd" in a way that the pip lays at an angle to the hole, the old one seems to do the same, but for practical purposes, the pip should lay "parallel" to the surface I was wondering what is the proper rapid lever geometry?, that is, how to adjust it so the "pip" lays directly onto the jet, is it a function of the pip height?, this one is confusing me. maybe some pictures of an average rapid would help me?
Hi Werner, I believe that your Hipolito should have the 1964 style. I've noticed before where the height of the "new" pip and holder is different from the original and can cause the pip not to sit square, a consequence of mixing new and old parts. Most times the thickness of the pip makes it a non-issue. If it does leak the simple solution is a narrow washer between the rapid foot bracket and preheater body. Once the positioning nut for the rapid foot is tightened down it should work fine. The trick is getting the pip to seal without the arm hitting the flame tube, making sure there is enough spring pressure for a tight seal and making sure the mixer nozzle screws all the way down.
I have a Petromax 1500, with the "domino" type preheater. Every time I use it it breaks the glass. Every time. Not sure what the problem is, the original half frosted glass is hard to find, so I just use the alcohol cup.
It could be that the flame tube of the preheater is touching the edge of the glass. This will give a hot spot and it can crack. There should be a small gap between the glass and the tube.
I think I have found the problem on the new preheater, the hole centering the stem is off by 2mm, and the pip is too high, I am making a spacer for the pip with a couple of washers, and I may need to grind and recenter the stem hole so the pip lays centered on the preheater jet, maybe the chinese stuff is getting so worn off that even brand new is way off limits, The problem I was having with the new "reapid" is that the lever when covering the hole is not perpendicular to the jet, it is at an angle, so the rubber pip rests on it's edge, instead of flat to the jet, took me a week of "dreaming on it" to figure out. While the original one,(1954 model) I may need to install new "wires" or "hinge pins" to hold the parts together, as the old ones are worn out and place the pip at odd positions when closed, when I do that I may have a spare working preheater, but better than not having a working one.
